Introduction
Since the creation of the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game system, the cleric
has been one of the most popular character classes. He has been a happy bridge
between warriors and mages: Capable of armoring up and wielding heavy weapons,
capable of casting useful magics, he was a very versatile adventurer and the
favorite choice of countless players.
With the release of the AD&D® 2nd Edition game, none of that has changed. The
cleric is the same magic-hurling, mace-wielding hero that he always was. And in The Complete Priest's Handbook , we're going to see to it that he's even more than that.
In this supplement, we're going to elaborate on what the priest (including the
cleric) is to the campaign, to the setting's civilization, and to the adventuring party.
We'll be providing guidelines for the DM to work up the cleric's faith: The
god or philosophy he serves, the rules and mores he follows, the duties he
practices, the restrictions he suffers, the powers he possesses, and the relations he
and the others of his faith have with the followers of other faiths.
We'll show you how to work up priests devoted to specific mythoi. The druid,
from the AD&D® 2nd Edition Player's Handbook, is one example; this supplement describes many, many more, and provides
rules for the DM to create new priesthoods of his own design.
We'll talk about priestly orders. Some priesthoods have soldierly orders,
scholarly orders, missionary orders, oracular orders, and many other types. If your
priest character belongs to a faith with several orders, he may choose one of
them, which will give him special abilities and duties beyond those of ordinary
priests.
We'll talk about role-playing the priest character. Certainly, priest
characters don't have to have the same sort of identical personality (the kindly
father-confessor with the bloody mace in his hand) which many players imagine them
all to have.
We'll describe whole campaigns devoted to priests: How to run them, how to
give them a purpose, how to determine what goals and interests are most
appropriate.
And we'll talk about the sort of equipment that priests use in their devotions
and adventures, including weapons, armor, holy symbols, priestly vestments,
and other items.
The Complete Priest's Handbook is equally useful if you're a Dungeon Master or a player. It will add depth
to the campaign world and the range of NPCs for Dungeon Masters, and add detail
to the abilities, backgrounds, and responsibilities of player-character
priests.
* * *
In the text, for reasons of simplicity, we normally use masculine nouns and
pronouns inclusively. When we say "god," "priest," or "man," we're normally also
implying "goddess," "priestess," and "woman."
In order to be able to use this supplement, you must use the Weapon and
Nonweapon Proficiencies rules from the AD&D® 2nd Edition game. If you're not yet
familiar with them, you ought to read them before continuing in this rulebook.
A special note for those of you who are using this Complete Priest's Handbook with your original AD&D® game instead of the new edition: This supplement
mentions a lot of page numbers from the Player's Handbook and the DMG. The page numbers cited are for the newest edition, not the original; they
won't be correct for those of you using the old books.